Card clothing

ABSTRACT

Clothing for the cylinder of a card particularly for use with wool and synthetic fibres comprises a stave having pins mounted in it at a density greater than ten pins per square centimetre with each pin projecting from the stave by a length of less than 2 1/2 mm. The length of taper of each pin is greater than the projecting length so that part of the taper is located within the body of the stave thus leading to improved carding of fine denier material.

United States Patent 11 1 Mackie June 12, 1973 [75] Inventor:

[ CARD CLOTHING Arthur Patrick Pringle Mackie, Albert Foundry, Belfast, Ireland [73] Assignee: James Mackie & Sons Limited,

Belfast, Northern Ireland 221 Filed: 061. 19, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 82,415

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 27, 1969 Great Britain 52,550/69 [52] US. Cl. 19/97, 19/112 [51] Int. Cl ..D01g 15/26 [58] Field of Search 19/97, 112, 114,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,391,429 7/1968 Watanabe 19/114 3,123,866 3/1964 Stewart et al 19/97 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,296,553 5/1969 Germany 19/97 435,791 9/1935 Great Britain 19/97 342,922 l/l960 Switzerland l9/ll2 891,225 3/1962 Great Britain 19/129 R Primary Examiner-Dorsey Newton Attorney-Larson, Taylor & Hinds [57] ABSTRACT Clothing for the cylinder of a card particularly for use with wool and synthetic fibers comprises a stave having pins mounted in it at a density greater than ten pins per square centimeter with each pin projecting from the stave by a length of less than 2% mm. The length of taper of each pin is greater than the projecting length so that part of the taper is located within the body of the stave thus leading to improved carding of fine denier material.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures CARD CLOTHING In the carding of wool and synthetic fibers the normal form of clothing for the cylinder of the card is of the metallic or fillet variety. As described in my British Pat. specification No. 967,801, however, the clothing of the card is constituted by needle-pointed pins which prior to that date had been used in the bast fiber industry rather than for the carding of wool and synthetic fibers. As described in the earlier specification the pins were mounted at a spacing finer than 64 pins per square inch pins per square cm.) and had flattened tips achieved by grinding the tips of the pins to give a truly cylindrical surface. Such pinning when used in combination with metallic or fillet clothing on the other rollers has been found to lead to surprisingly good results.

A complication is, however, introduced when working very fine denier material in that there is a tendency for lapping of the cylinders to occur; in other words fibers become lodged in the free space at the rootof the pins and so lap the cylinder with resultant loss of carding efficiency. Similar problems arise with natural fibers such as jute and flax.

These difficulties are overcome in accordance with the present invention by the use of pins at the density mentioned above, i.e., greater than 10 per square cm. and which have a length projecting from the stave of less than 2% mm. and a length of taper greater than I this. Most surprisingly it is found that this largely pre ever been used in the past, i.e., approximately oneeighth inch (-4 mm.). As mentioned above needlepointed pins made of hardened steel have traditionally 'beenused in the bast fiber industry and the length of 4 inmJhas always been regarded as the smallest possiblepin projection. The standard procedure for avoiding problems due to lapping had always been to reduce the'free-space round the root of the pins by an increase in density-of the pinning and this principle applied generally to all forms of card clothing. It is therefore completely contrary to this established practice to reduce the effective length of pin appreciably below what was previously consideredpossible.

Thesecondrrespect in which clothing in accordance withthe invention differs from established practice lies in the fact that the length oftaper of the pins is greater than theirprojecting length. In the past, as illustrated in my earlier specification, for example, the lowest portion of the pin projecting from the-stave has always been parallel-sided and the taper has started a short distanceabove the-surface of the stave. A configuration of pin in accordance with the invention in which'the Whole of the projecting portion of the pin is tapered so that-the angle of taper remains the same despite the reduced effective length of pin hasbeen found to make a majorcontribution to the improved results obtained.

It is found advantageous for the length of taper to exceed the projecting length of pin by an appreciable extent and preferably the length of taper isat least 50 percent'grea'ter than the projecting length. For the great majority of fibers a projecting length of approximately thought that it would be betterto avoid this recess by shaping the hole to fit closely round the taper of the pin and thus to eliminate this small recess. In practice, however, the presence of the recess is found to be beneficial and moreover it reduces any risk of the surface of the stave being slightly splintered when the pins are inserted and fitted in position. By using a parallel-sided hole for each pin there is no engagement between the side-of the pin and the rim of the hole so that the risk of splintering is negligible.

A construction in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein FIG. 1 is a view to a greatly enlarged scale of part of a stave for use on the cylinder of a card shown partly in section and FIG. 2 is a highly schematic view of a cylinder of a card with staves thereon.

Staves are shown formed on a cylinder 10 in FIG. 2 and the body of a stave is shown in FIG. 1 as l and is formed with parallel-sided holes 2 at a spacing somewhat greater than 10 per square cm. Needle-pointed pins 3 are fitted in these holes from the rear and are then hammered into position as shown. As can be seen the length of the tapered portion 4 of each pin is appreciably greater than the projecting length and in the example shown is approximately double this length. Since the holes are parallel-sided a small recess or pocket 5 is formed round the root of each pin as previously described. In aparticular examplethe total length of each pin is 16 mm., the tapered length is approximately 4 mm., theprojecting length is approximately 2 mm., and the diameter of the cylindrical portions of the pin is 1.0 mm.

Staves fitted withpins as just described may-be fitted to the cylinder 10 of a card in the normal way and before being placed in operationthe tips of the pins may be subjected to a very light grinding operation so that they are slightly flattened as shown at 6 and lie accurately on a common cylindrical surface thus leading to the improved results described in my earlier specification.

I claim:

1. Clothing for the cylinder of a card comprising: a stave'having a plurality of holes therethrough, at least a portion of said holes being cylindrical in crosssection, said portion including an outer portion adjacent the outer'surface of the stave, a plurality of pins mounted one in each of said stave holes, said pins having a cylindrical body with.a generally conically tapered end, said cylindrical body being located essentially in the cylindrical part of its respective stave hole, and at least a portion of the tapered end also being located in its respective stave hole, said tapered portion of the pin in its stave hole and the said outer portion of the stave hole defining therebetween a recess surrounding said tapered pin, the said tapered end projecting outward from the surface of the stave a distance less than 2% mm.

2. A stave according to claim 1, in whichvthe length of taper of each pin is at least 50 percent greater than the total projecting length thereof.

3. A stave according to claim 2, in which said pins project from said stave by approximately 2 mm. and have a total tapered length of approximately 4 mm.

4. A stave according to claim 1, in which each said hole in said stave extends with said cylindrical crosssection for the full thickness of the stave.

5. Clothing for the cylinder of a card comprising: a stave having a plurality of holes therethrough, said holes being parallel sided throughout the thickness of the stave, a plurality of pins mounted one in each of said stave holes, said pins having a parallel sided body conforming to the shape of said parallel sided holes and a tapered end, the base of said tapered end located within its respective stave hole and the tipthereof projecting out of said stave hole a distance less than 2% mm., said stave hole and the portion of the tapered end therein thus defining a small recess around the portion of the tapered end within the stave hole.

6. A stave according to claim 5, the total length ofthe tapered end being at least 50 percent greater than the part thereof which projects out of the stave hole.

7. A cylinder for a card fitted with clothing comprising a plurality of staves, each stave having a plurality of cylindrical holes therethrough, a plurality of pins mounted in said stave holes at a density greater than 10 pins per square cm, each said pin having a cylindrical body within its respective stave hole and a tapered length projecting from the outer surface of said stave for a distance of less than 2 /2 mm. and the total of said length of taper being at least 50 percent greater than the part thereof projecting beyond the surface of the stave, said tapered length of the pin in its stave hole and the said outer portion of the stave hole defining therebetween a recess surrounding said tapered pin and wherein the tips of said pins have been flattened by grinding so as to lie accurately on a common cylindrical surface. 

1. Clothing for the cylinder of a card comprising: a stave having a plurality of holes therethrough, at least a portion of said holes being cylindrical in cross-section, said portion including an outer portion adjacent the outer surface of the stave, a plurality of pins mounted one in each of said stave holes, said pins having a cylindrical body with a generally conically tapered end, said cylindrical body being located essentially in the cylindrical part of its respective stave hole, and at least a portion of the tapered end also being located in its respective stave hole, said tapered portion of the pin in its stave hole and the said outer portion of the stave hole defining therebetween a recess surrounding said tapered pin, the said tapered end projectiNg outward from the surface of the stave a distance less than 2 1/2 mm.
 2. A stave according to claim 1, in which the length of taper of each pin is at least 50 percent greater than the total projecting length thereof.
 3. A stave according to claim 2, in which said pins project from said stave by approximately 2 mm. and have a total tapered length of approximately 4 mm.
 4. A stave according to claim 1, in which each said hole in said stave extends with said cylindrical cross-section for the full thickness of the stave.
 5. Clothing for the cylinder of a card comprising: a stave having a plurality of holes therethrough, said holes being parallel sided throughout the thickness of the stave, a plurality of pins mounted one in each of said stave holes, said pins having a parallel sided body conforming to the shape of said parallel sided holes and a tapered end, the base of said tapered end located within its respective stave hole and the tip thereof projecting out of said stave hole a distance less than 2 1/2 mm., said stave hole and the portion of the tapered end therein thus defining a small recess around the portion of the tapered end within the stave hole.
 6. A stave according to claim 5, the total length of the tapered end being at least 50 percent greater than the part thereof which projects out of the stave hole.
 7. A cylinder for a card fitted with clothing comprising a plurality of staves, each stave having a plurality of cylindrical holes therethrough, a plurality of pins mounted in said stave holes at a density greater than 10 pins per square cm, each said pin having a cylindrical body within its respective stave hole and a tapered length projecting from the outer surface of said stave for a distance of less than 2 1/2 mm. and the total of said length of taper being at least 50 percent greater than the part thereof projecting beyond the surface of the stave, said tapered length of the pin in its stave hole and the said outer portion of the stave hole defining therebetween a recess surrounding said tapered pin and wherein the tips of said pins have been flattened by grinding so as to lie accurately on a common cylindrical surface. 